The weather was great...a perfect day to be out on the Parkway.This is one of the visitor centers along the Blue Ridge Parkway.We thought we'd try to make it across to I64 on the backroads through Collierstown, but it got dark and it didn't work out that way. We realized for sure we had missed our turn (or turns) and were driving in a circle when we came across this bridge for the second time about 9pm. The roads had gone from wide paved roads to narrow paved roads, then to narrow gravel roads and wound around making their way past the foothills of the Shenandoah Mountains. Everytime we came to an intersection, we took a wild guess at a direction. Most of the roads weren't marked and if they were, it wasn't by anything we recognized on the map. Our choices put us going in a circle. At least that brought us back to a place we recognized, which was better than being lost deep in the hills at night.

As we were riding slowly down one stretch of narrow gravel road, I swear something tried to attack me. It went for my head -- I was glad to be wearing a full-faced helmet. I wasn't sure whether to stop to see what it was or to hit the throttle and get away from it. Since it was dark, very dark, and I couldn't see past the ditch, I decided to keep going and leave whatever it was behind. So I can only guess at what it was that tried to take my head off -- I think maybe it was a bat. Considering the atmosphere of the night...a bat would have fit right in.

We decided it was time to head back into Lexington and find a motel for the night...before we REALLY got lost. Or run into more BAD things in the dark hills of the night.

The next morning, we looked out over the mountains from our room at the Wingate Inn. In the light of day, those hills didn't look near as foreboding as the night before.

Low Moor, a small town off I64 in the George Washington National Forest. Our route takes us through small mining communities and past the Rich Patch Union Church.

Rich Patch Union Church on route 616, south of Low Moor, VA.

Small store at Craig Creek, a recreational camping area.

Small church in Buchanan, Virginia. Lakers Country StoreSouth of Moneta on Hwy 122Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia Lakers Country Store is a very nostalgic little Texaco store.

Even the vehicles pulling in for gas seemed to have read the script.But the give-away was the price of gasoline. A car looking like this should never have to pay over $3.00 for fuel. JUST AIN'T RIGHT.